Apparatus for arranging looped articles



March 30 1926. 1,578,392

C. C. CADDEN AP?ARATUS FOR ARRANGING LOOEED ARTICLES Filed Nov. 10, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 30, 1926.V l

UNITED STATE-s 1,578,392 PATENT OFFICE..

v('HAlEtllillilS C. CADDEN, OF AKRON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE B. F. GOODRIGH COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

APPARATUS FOR ARRANGING LOOPED ARTICLES.

To all 'whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CHARLES C. CADDEN,'a citizen of the United States, residing at Akron, in the county of Summit and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Apparatus for Arranging Looped Articles, of which the following is a specification. 'f

This invention relates to the art of arranging articles in determinate relation, as in collecting them in orderly arrangement or in determinate quantities, and is especially applicable to articleshaving a looped portion such as an eye or other form of loop adapted for the reception of a manipulating member. An embodiment of my invention adapted to arrange rubber bands is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

My chief object is toprovide improved procedure and apparatus whereby articles of this character may be rapidly and economically assembled in orderly arrangement, as for packing or other disposition in determinate quantities., More specific objects, such as compactness and simplicity of structure, will be apparent.

Of the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section of a machine embodying and adapted to carry out my invention in its preferred form, part of the feed drum being sectioned in a different plane and broken away.

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of a portion of the same, on a somewhat smaller'scale'.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Fig. 1, parts being sectioned in a different plane and broken away.

Fig. 5 is an elevation of the machine from the right of Fig. 1, parts being broken away.

Referring to the drawings, the machine comprises a frame 10 in which is journaled a carrier roll 11, adapted to be driven, clockwise as viewed in Fig. 1, and to drive an endless carrier belt 12 so mounted upon an end roll 13 and guide rolls 14, 15 as to cause a reach of the carrier belt to pass horizontally onto the carrier roll at the lowest part of its orbit, the beltthus being adapted to catch articles, such as the rubber bands 16, 16 here shown, as they fall from the rotating carrier roll, and carry them upward between the belt and the roll as shown, 'so that, as the belt leaves the roll at the top of the latters orbit, the rubber bands will be carried further forward by the rotating roll, such of them as are not caught by a collecting device hereinafter described then falling again onto the carrier belt, to be again carried through the cycle. The guide rolls 14, 15 vfor the carrier belt are loosel journaled in the frame'lO, and 1.7 is a tlghtener roll for the belt, loosely journaled between a pair of arms, one of which is shown at 18, pivoted on thev frame at. 19. 20, 2O are side plates' secured to the frame 1,0 and formed with respective slots 20a, 20a, in which the margins of the carrier belt travel, to prevent the bands from fallingtherefrom.

The end roll 13 ofthe carrier belt is secured upon a shaft 21, upon which is loosely journaled a sprocket 22, at the rear of the machine, and a sprocket chain 23, running from suitable driving means (not shown) is mounted upon said sprocket, a guide sprocket 2 4 j'ournaled upon a bracket 25 projecting from the rear of the frame, and

a sprocket 26 secured upon the shaft 27 of the carrier roll 11. A

For feeding the rubber bands at a suitable rate onto the carrier roll 11, a driven feederdrum 28, having a cylindrical wall formed as a grating, is journaled in a. hopper V29 which is bridged, near its delivery aperture, by a plurality of wedge shaped guides, 30, 30, (see Fig. 3), adapted to direct the rubber bands into spaced apart columns as they sift through.' the grating of the drum 28 and fall through the hopper 29 onto the carrier roll 11. One portion of the grating of the drum 28 is formed as a door '31 hinged at 32, Fig. 1, and provided' with a latch 33, to receive the supply of rubber bands, and the drum is adapted to be slowly driven by a belt 34 mounted upon a pulley 35 secured to the drums shaft 36 and upon a pulley 37 loosely journaled upon the shaft 27 of the carrier roll 11 and secured tothe sprocket 26.

For picking olf successive bands 16 from the carrier roll, at each column of bands, and transferring them in orderly relation, a conveyor screw 38, which is of greatest diameter at its middle and terminates at each end in a straight, axial portion, is mounted in an inclined position, for its adjacent straight end portion to enter successive rubber bands as the latter pass to it to. slide down said straight end portion, to

be fed along by the helical portion of the screw to its other straight end portion, and to slide down and pass from the end of said portion, as the screw rotates, the bands anging vertically from the screw as they are thus transferred. j

Each ofthe conveyor vscrews 38/is supported and adapted' to be peripherally driven by three waisted rollers 39, 39 embracing-the 'relatively large middle portion of the screw so as to prevent axial displacement thereof, said rollers being journaled. between a pair of lates 40,` 40 bridging the frame and formed at their lower edges with notchessuch as are shown at 41, 41, Fig.l4, to permit the passage of the bands supported on the screws. For driving sald waisted rollers the journal of each projects' beyond one of the plates and-has secured thereon a spur gear .42, the several spur gears being'so intermeshed with aseries of idler gears 43,43, mounted upon the plate,

L as to be driven thereby, all in the same` direction, clockwise as viewed in Fig. 4, to drive the screws counter-clockwise as there viewed, one of` the gears 43, at the end of the series, having secured thereto a belt pulley 44 adapted to. be driven. by a belt 45 running from a pulley 46 secured `to the sprocket 22, said belt passing'overy guide Ipulleys 47, 47 journaled on 'brackets'4'8, 48 projecting from the 'rear'of the machine.

To revent the 'rubber-'bands from being carrie around through the orbit of the screw, and'so compel them to be fed alon by the screw, an `AL shaped plate 49, aralle with the a is o f the screw, is secure to the front face of the forward plate' 40 and extends along and beneath the respective screw vin position 'to stop the bands if they start to climb with the rotating screw. (See Figs.v 1 and'4.)v Supported-.from the same plate 40l at positions between adjacentk screws are wedge-shaped guides 50,v 50 (see Fi s. v1 and 4 positioned below theyscrews an .closely a jacent the carrier roll 113 for keeping the bands which are not intercepted by the screws in column formation as they.

fall upon the carrier belt 12, so that as they pass again over the carrier roll they will be concentrated at the positions of the screws, to assure that a suitable number of them will been aged by the screws.

For rece1v1ng thebands in orderly relation fromthe screws an inclined pin 51 projects Ifrom a slide 52 adjacent each screw, the slide being mounted in a horizontal, dove-tail guide 53 secured upon the frame 10 and rovided with Astops 54,55 at each end o its dovetail groove for stopping the slides' respectively in, a position such that the upper, free' end of the pin 51 will be jut under the delive end of the screw 38 and l in s position at t e other end of the guide,

remote from theI screw, for the ready removal of a file of bands from the pin, the slide being adapted to be moved from one of said positions to the other by hand.

lIn the operation of the machine, a supply of the bands 13 being placed in the yfeed drum 28 and the door 31 of the latter closed, andthe machine being'driven, throughthe chain 23, the bands sift through the grating `of the rotating drum and are 'directed into columns, atthe positions of the several collecting and conveying screws 38, as they fall onto the rotating carrier roll 11. As they move, forward on said roll, in continuous procession, to they collecting screws, such of them as are by chance suitably positioned' pass onto` vthe 'adjacent ends of the screws, which convey the bands to their opposite .ends and then .deliver them to the pms 51, the hanging bands passing through the notches 41 ofthe plates 40 and being v prevented from rotating with the screws by the plates 49.

Bands not thus collectedY from the carrier roll 11 fall upon the carrier belt 12,\their column formation bei preserved by. the guides 50, and are causred by the belt to pass again over the carrier roll.

When each of the pins 51 has received the desired quantity of bands,- which may be gaged by the length of the pin, the operator'` withdraws the sl1de from the screw bymoving it along its guide 53 and picks theile of bands from the pin, upon which they' hang in orderly arrangement. Thefile, of bands is .then unified or secured in assembled relation, as .by boxing them or bundlin them and placing one of the bands aroun. the others, the bands being thus disposed of in orderly arrangement, and the slide is returned to its band receiving position 'for' the feeding of the next file of bands there los v onto. The operator thus attends to the several units of the machine in rotation, and the few bands v.that drop from the screws while thefslides are withdrawn fall onto the carrier belt 12 and arev thereby returned to the carrier roll.

The conveyor screw 38 being formed 'with stra-ight, axially disposed terminal portions permits i-t to receive successive bands at a determined position and deliver them at a determined position without rapid relative movement of the screw and" band at the point of reception or release, and permits the receiving end of the screw tol ,remain constantly at the same location for the rapid reception of successive bands.` This form of the screw also provides, at the `junction of each straight, axial portion with the helical middle portion of the screw, an action adapted to separate into orderly succession I do not claim herein as my sole invention the devices for sifting the bands onto the carrier roll, or the devices for giving the bands column formation on the carrier roll, or the plates 49 for preventing climbing of the bands upon the screws, the combination of those features with other elements here shown being part of the subject matter of a copending joint application of myself, Lloyd L. Lantzer and Benjamin A. Evans, Serial No. 750,259, filed November 17, 1924.

My invention is susceptible of various .modifications within its scope, and I do not wholly limit my claims to the exact procedure or the specific construction described.

I claim:

1. Apparatus of the character described comprising a conveyor screw and external journal means'therefor, the screw and journal means being adapted to permit through passage along said screw of looped articles engaged by their loops thereon.

2. Apparatus of the character described lcomprising a conveyor. screw having an axially positioned receiving end and journal means for said screw, the screw and the journal means being adapted for throu'gh passage along said screw of looped articles engaged by their loops thereon.

3..Apparatus of the character described comprising a conveyor screw terminating in a substantially straight, axially disposed receiving-end portion, journal means for said screw, the screw and the journal means being adapted for throughl passage along said screw of looped articles engaged by their loops thereon, andmeans for/so passing a succession oflooped articles past the said receiving-end portion of the screw as to cause some of the articles to be vengaged by their loops thereon.

4. Apparatus of the character described comprising a conveyor screw having a helical portion and a substantially straight, axially disposed portion in continuation thereof, and journal means for said screw, the screw and the journal means being adapted for throu'gh passage along said screw of looped articles engaged by their loops there-j 5. Apparatus as defined in claim 4 in which the screw is journaled with its axis inclined.

6. Apparatus of the character described comprising a conveyor screw terminating in a .substantially straight, axially disposed, delivery-end portion and journal means for said screw, the screw and the journal means being adapted for through passage along said screw of looped articles engaged' by their loops thereon.

7. Apparatus of the character described comprising a conveyor screw and means for receiving articles from a random supply and feeding them to the screw, the screw and the said means being adapted to cause the articles 'to -be engaged singly in the successive turns of the screw.

8.App'aratus of the character described comprising a collectin'g member, means for supporting the same with one end thereof projecting in a determinate position to receive a file of lannular articles thereon, means for so moving a supply of the articles in chance arrangement `past said collecting members as to cause the latter to engage in some of the articles and receive the same in file formation thereon, said collecting member being adapted for the feeding of the articles from the opposite end thereof, and means for receiving the articles from thesaid opposite end of said collecting member and supporting them in orderly arrangement.

9. Apparatus of the `character described comprisin a conveyor screw, means for peripheral y supporting and driving the same, means for so moving a supply of looped articles in chance arrangement past the receiving end of said screw as to cause the latter toengage in the -loops ofsome of Said articles, and means for receiving thel articles from the opposite end of said screw and supporting them in orderly arrangei ment. i

10. Apparatus of the character described comprising a collecting member, means for lsupporting the same with one end thereof projecting to receive a file of .looped articles thereon, and article feeding means forl so moving a supply of the articles in chance arrangement past said collecting member as to cause the latter to engage in the loops of some of said articles, said article feeding means comprising a roll and an endless belt s o passing .about thesame as to carry articles upward between the two and release them on the surface of the rolll near the top of the latters orbit, said belthaving `a substantiall horizontal reach assing to the lower si e of said roll and a apted to catch articles falling from said roll and carry them upward, between itself and the roll, as described.

11. Apparatus of the character described comprising a conveyor screw, a set of' `waistedy rollers for peripherally supporting and driving the same, with one end thereof projecting to receive a file of looped articles thereon, and article-feeding means for so Imoving a supply of the articles in 'chance' arrangement past said conveyor screw as to cause the latter to engage in the loops of some of the articles.

12. Apparatus of the character described comprislng a closely spaced rank of file.

supporting members having projectin'g ends and adapted to receive files of looped arti'- cles thereon and support the same by engagement in their loops, and means for to be withdrawn individually from the rank for the removalof files of articles therefrom.

' 13. Apparatus of the character described comprising a closely spaced rank of filesupporting members having projecting ends and adapted to receive filesof looped articles thereon and support the sameby engagement intheir loops, and a conveyor screw for each of said `members adapted to receive successive articles from a supply of articles in chance arrangement; and feed them onto the file-,supporting member, said file-supporting members being adapted to be withdrawn individuallyfrom the rank 'imam for the removal of' iles of articles therefrom. v

14. Apparatusof the character described comprising a collectin'g'member adapted to engage in a succession of annular articles and means for so moving a supply of the articles in chance arrangement past said collecting member as to cause some of the said articles to be strun'g upon the said collecting member, said collecting member being so formed and so mounted as to permit the passage of the annular articles onto one end and ofi' ofthe other end thereof.

In Witness whereof. I have hereunto set my hand this 6th d ay of November, 1924.

CHARLES C. CADDEN. 

